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Oklahoma City Barons: Offensively challenged Barons blanked by Texas

The Barons' defense is playing better, but with recent call-ups to Edmonton, the Oklahoma City offense is now struggling.

By Mike Baldwin •
Published: January 13, 2013

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The Barons have tightened up their defense. Now they've got to figure out a way to score some goals without the Oilers young stars who have returned to Edmonton.

For the second straight game the Barons on Sunday afternoon controlled play but left the Cox Convention Center frustrated, losing 3-0 to the Texas Stars in an American Hockey League game.

Similar to Saturday night's game against Charlotte, Oklahoma City outshot the Stars 36-16. The Barons had more scoring chances but never got the puck past Texas goaltender Jack Campbell.

“We're seeing a lot of positive things that aren't translating into wins,” said Oklahoma City coach Todd Nelson. “We just have to keep working at it. I liked their effort. We had good scoring opportunities. We just couldn't bury it. Give Campbell credit. He played a strong game.”

Campbell is taking over for Cristopher Nilstorp who joined Dallas' training camp. Nilstorp had four shutouts. This was Campbell's first shutout of the season.

“We've got to do a better job of shooting at the corners (of the net),” said Barons captain Josh Green. “He saw a lot of the shots. We hit him in the chest a lot. We just have to stay with it. We can't get frustrated.”

Green narrowly missed slamming home a rebound in the final minutes — and that was representative of the Barons inability to light the lamp.

“It was kind of indicative of the night,” Green said. “But we've got to battle through those kinds of things.”

Matt Fraser scored a power-play goal midway through the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. The Barons had ample scoring chances over the next two periods before a turnover helped Texas take a 2-0 lead with 16:41 left. The Stars added an empty-net goal after Barons goaltender Olivier Roy was pulled for an extra attacker.